Invisible Man Summer Essay Assignment
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) is the story of an unnamed narrator as he recalls the past twenty years of his life. As the book progresses, the narrator details how the events that transpired as well as the people he met along the way helped to shape his identity. The novel deals with various racial and political themes as Ellison compares being a black man in America to being invisible, along with using other characters as vessels to channel bigger and broader social issues. Through the author’s blatant use of symbolism, Ellison argues that it impossible for black people to discover themselves in white America while they themselves indulge in stereotypical representations of the race, ultimately …show more content…
Dr Bledsoe, the head of the narrator’s former college and Ras the Exhorter, a passionate African anti-white activist, symbolize the two extremes in which black people have historically been defined. Bledsoe represents the “good slave’, the coon, the black man who will assimilate to white culture in order to further his ambitions and encourages others blacks to do the same. Ras the Exhorter symbolizes the extreme black radical and nationalist movements that rose in opposition to the Bledsoes of the world. After crashing a Brotherhood rally, Ras pulls a knife on Tod Clifton, a leader in the organization, with the narrator watching. However, instead of stabbing Clifton, Ras talks about why he distrusts whites as well as blacks who work with whites. “I ahm no black educated fool who t’inks everything between a black mahn and a white mahn can be setttled with some blashted lies in some bloody books written by the white mahn in the first place” (Ellison 375-376). For someone who advocated as aggressively for black nationalism as Ras did, it was not possible for …show more content…
However, unlike those those men, the narrator was eventually able to see past those restrictions. In Chapter 23, the narrator dawns a pair of green sunglasses and a white hat in order to avoid Ras and his men. As he navigates through the city, he is mistaken for an ambiguous man named Rinehart several times. Each time he is recognized as Rinehart, the person who noticed him had a different interpretation of the kind of man Rinehart was. This fluidity baffles the narrator and makes him think about himself in relation to Rinehart. He wondered, “Still, could he be all of them: Rine the runner and Rine the gambler and Rine the briber and Rine the lover and Rinehart the Reverend? Could he himself be both rind and heart?” (Ellison 498) Here, the green sunglasses are symbolic of the narrator finally being able to see the complexity of people. Through the glasses, he is able to discover his invisibility and use it to his advantage. Rinehart is symbolic of invisibility itself. Rinehart has no limits, he does not let anyone put him in a particular box. Other people may think they are, but Rinehart knows who he truly is behind the “rind.” He does not allow himself to be a stereotype because he is too convoluted. Once the narrator came to terms with this, he realized that all his life, he let himself fall prey to being boxed within stereotypes and expectations. From being the “docile
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (1952) is the story of an unnamed narrator as he recalls the past twenty years of his life. As the book progresses, the narrator details how the events that transpired as well as the people he met along the way helped to shape his identity. The novel deals with various racial and political themes as Ellison compares being a black man in America to being invisible, along with using other characters as vessels to channel bigger and broader social issues. Through the author’s blatant use of symbolism, Ellison argues that it impossible for black people to discover themselves in white America while they themselves indulge in stereotypical representations of the race, ultimately …show more content…
Dr Bledsoe, the head of the narrator’s former college and Ras the Exhorter, a passionate African anti-white activist, symbolize the two extremes in which black people have historically been defined. Bledsoe represents the “good slave’, the coon, the black man who will assimilate to white culture in order to further his ambitions and encourages others blacks to do the same. Ras the Exhorter symbolizes the extreme black radical and nationalist movements that rose in opposition to the Bledsoes of the world. After crashing a Brotherhood rally, Ras pulls a knife on Tod Clifton, a leader in the organization, with the narrator watching. However, instead of stabbing Clifton, Ras talks about why he distrusts whites as well as blacks who work with whites. “I ahm no black educated fool who t’inks everything between a black mahn and a white mahn can be setttled with some blashted lies in some bloody books written by the white mahn in the first place” (Ellison 375-376). For someone who advocated as aggressively for black nationalism as Ras did, it was not possible for …show more content…
However, unlike those those men, the narrator was eventually able to see past those restrictions. In Chapter 23, the narrator dawns a pair of green sunglasses and a white hat in order to avoid Ras and his men. As he navigates through the city, he is mistaken for an ambiguous man named Rinehart several times. Each time he is recognized as Rinehart, the person who noticed him had a different interpretation of the kind of man Rinehart was. This fluidity baffles the narrator and makes him think about himself in relation to Rinehart. He wondered, “Still, could he be all of them: Rine the runner and Rine the gambler and Rine the briber and Rine the lover and Rinehart the Reverend? Could he himself be both rind and heart?” (Ellison 498) Here, the green sunglasses are symbolic of the narrator finally being able to see the complexity of people. Through the glasses, he is able to discover his invisibility and use it to his advantage. Rinehart is symbolic of invisibility itself. Rinehart has no limits, he does not let anyone put him in a particular box. Other people may think they are, but Rinehart knows who he truly is behind the “rind.” He does not allow himself to be a stereotype because he is too convoluted. Once the narrator came to terms with this, he realized that all his life, he let himself fall prey to being boxed within stereotypes and expectations. From being the “docile